6 Lessons I Learned from My Most Successful Launch to Date

As many of you know, we are just wrapping up the recent launch of the new 2.0 version of Blogging Your Passion University. The university only opens up a few times a year.

I know many of you are looking to do similar online product launches so I thought I’d pass along a few lessons I learned. After every launch, I try to capture down the lessons I learned so I can remember them in the future.

There are always things that go wrong and things that go right in every launch. With 24 hours left to opening the doors, I had to switch my payment processor to Stripe. I was so glad I made the switch.

Here are at least six lessons I learned:

Podcast Version

Lesson #1: WHY you do it is just as important (if not more important) as WHAT you are selling.

In my first video training, I spent the entire video sharing my L.I.F.E. acronym (I wrote more about this here). It’s my BIG WHY behind being a full-time blogger and pursuing my passion. This message seemed to resonate with many people.

They reached out to me personally, sharing with me what motivates them to pursue their passion through an online business. If people connect with your WHY, they will naturally follow you to the WHAT and the HOW.

Lesson #2: People doubt themselves more than they doubt the product

You can have the best training product in the world and people won’t buy. It isn’t because the product is not good. The main reason people don’t buy is they don’t believe in themselves. They aren’t sure they can do it.

On the last day, I made myself available on live chat to answer any questions people had about BYPU. I was flooded with live chat messages all the way to midnight. It never stopped.

To my surprise, it wasn’t people questioning the product or the training, they questioned their ability to make use of the training. By helping people to overcome their fears and build their confidence, several more members joined the university that day.

Lesson #3: Keep promoting because people are busy

The last thing I want to do is bombard my list with useless email every day screaming, “buy my stuff, buy my stuff.” That being said, I’ve also come to understand that people are busy.

One email announcing the opening of your product is not enough. Even as much as I tried to communicate this recent launch, I still had people email me afterwards saying they didn’t realize they missed the enrollment period.

Lesson #4: Add value up front as much as possible

I decided that if I was going to communicate to my list more often about the opening of the university, I was going to have to do it through adding value. I wanted every email to have value even if the person did not buy.

A few things I did to create value up front:

Created three training videos each 20 minutes long

Gave a free sample video lesson right from the university

Held three free webinars on how to become a full-time blogger in half the time

Offered a limited time bonus on how launch a membership site

Answered common questions that people were asking

Offered free live chat to come and talk to me about blogging or the university

Lesson #5: Offer a limited time bonus during your launch

Another thing that helped this recent launch be a success was to offer a limited time bonus in the middle of my launch. I set a date before the final closing date and let those on my list know that I had a limited time bonus for them.

It was a complete $97 course I sell on how to launch a membership site in 90 days. The last day of this limited bonus was my third highest sales day of the launch.

Lesson #6: Stay in close proximity with your audience

As much as possible, be available to coach, guide, and direct your potential customers. I accomplished this by holding three live webinars two days before the closing day and being available all day on live chat the final day.

At the end of the day, this is a relationship business. If people feel a personal connection with you, they will gladly go on a journey with you.

Jonathan has been blogging since 2009 and is still in awe that the Creator of the Universe desires to have a relationship with him. His passions include spending time with his kids, reading, March Madness, surprise get-a-way trips with his wife, and watching funny YouTube videos.

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Jonathan thanks for sharing. I am looking at creating a course and have been following what you are doing. Much appreciated.

http://bloggingyourpassion.com/ Jonathan Milligan

Hey Chris. Creating courses has been the best investment of my time.

http://johnmeese.me/ John Meese

Thank you for sharing your insight here, Jonathan. I’ll be launching my Get Noticed!™ Theme video course soon, and I’m eating up all the launch advice I can get!

http://bloggingyourpassion.com/ Jonathan Milligan

Awesome John. That’s a great idea for a course.

Mary

This was a fantastic podcast, really amazing! I have temporarily given up. I bought so many things (including yours) and could not really figure out how to work with them.
I really stretched my self thin. It was my fault.
That was one of your points, how to make information work for us. and it hit me big. I am glad that you don’t give up on those of us who take a bit longer to get this! I will be back in the arena soon. Thank for all you do!

http://bloggingyourpassion.com/ Jonathan Milligan

Hey Mary, You can do this! The fact that you haven’t given up yet tell me there is something stirring inside of you to keep your passion alive. otherwise you would have quit a long time ago.

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